Housing and Regeneration

This is an exciting and challenging time to be joining the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham.  The Council’s vision for the future is clear and is about giving people access to opportunity through affordable home ownership, regeneration and excellence in education (Corporate Plan 2008-2011.pdf).  The Council is leading on initiatives with national significance, such as Tri-borough working designed to deliver real improvements in service delivery and value for money and is recognised as a leading edge local authority. You can view the Tri Borough report here.

The Housing and Regeneration Department has a key role to play in achieving the Council’s vision at the same time as it meets the need to find innovative ways of doing more for less and keeping the customer at the heart of everything that it does.

The Housing and Regeneration Department of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham was created on 1st April 2011 when the management of housing services was transferred back to the Council from the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) that had been set up in 2004. You can view the Council Report confirming the transfer here.  The staff of the former ALMO were joined together with the Council’s existing Housing Options and Regeneration teams.  Melbourne Barrett joined the new department at the end of March as its Director and is putting in place the business plan, targets and objectives to achieve his department’s contribution to the Council’s vision of being a borough of opportunity providing the best possible services at the lowest possible cost. You can view the Housing and Regeneration senior structure here.

The Council has a stock of some 18,000 homes. About 13,000 are occupied by tenants and some 5,000 are occupied by leaseholders.  About eighty eight percent of the stock is flats or maisonettes, including high rise blocks.  Approximately one voter in three in the Borough lives in a property managed by the Council.  Hammersmith and Fulham is the fourth smallest London Borough both geographically and in terms of population.  However, the population density is the fourth highest in the country and there are significant pockets of deprivation mainly in the wards where the Council accommodation is concentrated.  House prices as a whole in Hammersmith and Fulham are the fourth highest in the UK, but only 1% of the housing stock is low cost ownership housing.  Housing is central to the Council’s ambition to give everyone access to a ladder of opportunity through improving the built environment, attracting investment and promoting low cost home ownership to create mixed and sustainable communities.

The Housing and Regeneration Department includes the following key areas of activity;

• Property Services – asset management, planned and responsive maintenance and repairs and capital programmes to enhance the quality of the housing stock and improve the quality of life of customers;
• Housing Management – allocating homes, maximising income, promoting financial inclusion and building safe and sustainable communities; and
• Housing Options and Strategy - services for people who come to the council for help with housing, from homelessness to shared ownership schemes;
• Housing Strategy and Regeneration – economic and strategic regeneration and adult learning and skills.

When it was last inspected in 2009 by the Audit Commission, Hammersmith and Fulham Homes was rated as providing a two star service with excellent prospects for improvement (ALMO Audit Commission Report.pdf).  The organisation has gone through a significant process of change over the last few years.  Reorganisations have touched every part of the business with the objective of improving customer satisfaction and value for money.  Good progress has been made and, although there is a solid foundation on which to build, more needs to be done to improve the service.  No less importantly there are important choices to be made about the future direction of housing and regeneration now that it has returned to the Council.